hard decision also for me. i've on my actually main tailoring/herbalism and don't know it's better alchemy or scribe.
Alchemy i think it's a pain due to lack of golden lotus erbs but iscription it's a pain too to extremly farm to craft a little card
so really i don't know.

Just like everything, it varies by server but alchemy is profitable just by buying everything off of the auction house. And same with inscription. I'm still making profit off of every DMC I make and I don't have an herbalist.

BS allows for secondary stat stacking while LW has a whole +10 Primary stat increase over every other profession.

As of 5.0.5, all the 170 primary stat bracer enchants are +180 (the spellbook enchant tooltip does not reflect this, but the on-item tooltip does), so leatherworking no longer has that slight advantage.

But Blacksmithing undoubtedly has the most flexibility and is the wisest choice in looking towards the future when MoP epic gems come out. In Wrath, they buffed JC gems accordingly to match the increase in epic gems. In Cata, they did not. Either way, Blacksmithing's perk will increase from epic gems. The other professions probably won't.

As of 5.0.5, all the 170 primary stat bracer enchants are +180 (the spellbook enchant tooltip does not reflect this, but the on-item tooltip does), so leatherworking no longer has that slight advantage.

Ahh, nice to know.

"Reason is not automatic. Those who deny it cannot be conquered by it." - Ayn Rand

I don't see how JC is "the worst" as you still get a 320 stat bonus at the moment.

Because if you are a class that values secondary stats over primary (tanks, for instance) you only gain +320 secondary stats through JC gems. Blacksmiths gain +640.

If you value primary over secondary, it's not really a concern. Until epic gems come out. If they don't buff JC gems, JC becomes the worst perk, blacksmithing becomes the best, and all the rest stay the same, in the middle of those two.

So if you're choosing between one or the other now, and your main concern is flexibility in your perk (and no chance at being shafted come epic gems), pick BS.

Engineering is the top profession due to its 1920 Strength bonus to gloves for 10 seconds every minute (320 strength average passive) which lines up nicely with Pillar of Frost. Leatherworking gives 330 Strength. Alchemy, Enchanting, Blacksmithing, and Inscription are all on par giving 320 Strength.

Actually, most druids are stacking crit, not mastery or stam. There are also many paladins stacking haste. It's not ONLY mastery or stam stacking these days. But you are correct on the professions. BS + JC is for stacking a stat other than stamina. BS + LW is for stacking stamina. Although for stamina stacking you can also use enchanting or inscription or JC instead of BS. But LW will give you by far the biggest boost to stamina.

Another often unsaid thing about engineering is the rocket belt. If you need to travel to the boss (platform switching on Imperial bug or tornado gauntlet on Blade lord) you can possibly get a lot more uptime on the boss (assuming they don't backfire....they usually don't). Other professions don't provide utility like that.